Zetta.net Cloud Makes Way for Full Windows Server Backups

Posted on August 18, 2014 By Pedro Hernandez

Zetta.net is taking whole Windows Server backups to the cloud with an extra dose of wide area network (WAN) acceleration.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based data backup specialist today launched the latest version of its cloud backup and disaster recovery (DR) product for SMBs, DataProtect 4.5. New to this release is the ability to perform full server image backups to the cloud that leverage today's faster Internet speeds.

In keeping with the company's zero-appliance approach, there are no extra hardware appliances to buy, Zetta.net's CMO, Gary Sevounts, told InfoStor. With the advent of Google Fiber in certain regions -- and competitors' efforts to catch up -- "people are starting to use super-fast bandwidth," he said.

The company's appliance-free, software-as-a-service (SaaS) model also dovetails with the consumerization of IT trend that is gripping the industry, according Chris Schin, vice president of products at Zetta.net.

"Every one of the IT administrators that are making an IT decision is also a consumer," he said. Increasingly, they are growing more familiar with cloud services, increasingly preferring them to making room in the IT budget for purpose-built hardware. "It is becoming kind of clear that appliances are the old way to go," he said.

The biggest advantage, added Sevounts, is that customers "don't have to wait for an appliance to ship" in the wake of disaster, said Sevounts. With DataProtect, organizations can perform backup and restore operations to any location with access to the Internet.

Why perform full server backups to begin with?

Mainly, for peace of mind and data portability, according to Schin. He explained that for IT managers, "backing up a Windows Server, a full image, removes all the decisions."

Also new to version 4.5 is two-factor authentication. The security-enhancing feature makes it far less likely that sensitive data will fall into the wrong hands. Many high-profile breaches "would have been avoided if someone had more than a username password combination," added Schin.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at InfoStor. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.